TBT: Brothers Osborne - Unapologetically Unique

Summary

Dumb Blonde Podcast: TBT - Brothers Osborne - Unapologetically Unique

Host: Bunnie XO
Guests: John and T.J. Osborne (Brothers Osborne)
Date: January 1, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of Dumb Blonde features the Grammy-winning duo Brothers Osborne, celebrated for their honest lyrics, genre-melding sound, and unapologetic individuality. Host Bunnie XO dives deep into their journey—covering everything from their upbringing, relationship as siblings, unique place in country music, mental health, coming out, IVF struggles, and the vital importance of embracing your true self. The conversation is lively, vulnerable, and filled with both heartfelt moments and laugh-out-loud stories.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Brothers Osborne’s Style and Childhood

• Fashion as Authentic Expression
  • John credits both his identity and creative team:

    “One, it’s probably the fact that I’m a gay man... we have stylists that help with this stuff... Abby is very stylish... every time I, like, even I got dressed for the awards, I’m like, this jacket? This jacket?” (04:00)

  • Both Bunnie and the brothers bond over quirky childhood fashion, agreeing it’s often innate.
• Origin Story & Musical Roots
  • Grew up in Deal, Maryland—a “tiny water community... very blue collar,” outside stereotypical country origins.

    “We shot our music video for ‘Rum’ in our hometown, to kind of give people a bit of a look-see into where we grew up, because it makes total sense when you see it.” (08:38)

  • Parents instilled a love of music as hobbyists; all siblings supportive but carved unique paths.
  • Early family band: “Deuce and a Quarter.”

    “It was really kind of started as like our parents’ dream. We just kind of grew up around music all the time. We didn’t really know any different.” (10:33)

The Path to Brothers Osborne

• T.J. details playing in bands separately, learning their craft, and inevitably joining musical forces in Nashville:

  “People kept showing up... and it just started to gain a lot of interest, and it was not our intention at all... Eventually we had to just go, is this, like, official?” (11:21)

  • Mom’s dreams were actualized as the brothers formed their duo.

Being Unique in Country Music

• Fusion of Country and Rock
  • “We grew up listening to country. I rebelled... I loved Nirvana and Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots.” (14:18)
• Their unique sound made industry acceptance a challenge, but they focused on originality:

  “We just really focused on what it is we’re doing... I’ve been thinking a lot about this recently because there’s, like, so much, like, turmoil in, like, what country music is... it’s almost had been a great reminder for me to be like, man, people want to just listen to music to, like, party or if they want to cry or if they just want to feel nostalgic.” (18:30)

Authenticity and the Long Game

• Prioritizing “real” fans over overnight success, even if others passed them by:

  “I feel like slow and steady wins the race, though... we’ve been doing it for a while, and I don’t foresee us going away anytime soon. And I really attribute that to going out and making real fans that did like what we were doing because it Was different.” (20:58)

• Loyalty to day-one supporters:

  “This is any person I don’t want to let down. It’s the fan that started with us from the bottom... There's a sense of pride there.” (21:55)

Myths, American Idol, and Overnight Fame

• T.J. clarifies he never auditioned for American Idol despite online rumors.
• Respect for anyone who finds success however they can:

  “If you can make it in this business, good for you. It’s really, really, really hard. And then to not only make it but then to keep it, it is so hard and it takes a lot of work and it’s really fun and it’s glamorous... but there’s a lot of stuff... that is ugly and not sexy and a lot of work and, and a lot of no's and a lot of heartbreak to get there.” (23:02)

Mental Health: Struggle and Openness

• John’s Experience
  • Burnout from relentless touring, pressure, and eventual physical toll (tinnitus); therapy was transformative.
• T.J.’s Experience
  • Lifelong anxiety and shyness, guitar as a form of expression.
• Both emphasize the necessity of “going through it” in healing:

  “If you want to get to it, you got to go through.” (29:57)

• Importance of openly discussing mental health and removing the stigma—“part of the healing is talking about it.” (30:46)
• Candid talk about therapy:

  “I think a lot of that has changed, but the biggest problem now is just simply, I think two things. One, people having the time to do it... Having to find a therapist, it’s so overwhelming... which brings me to the next problem... it’s expensive.” (64:55)

Coming Out and Self-Acceptance

• John shares what it was like to realize he was gay, growing up feeling out of place, and the eventual relief after coming out:

  “I was really, really fortunate to grow up around [an accepting family]... but I did eventually reach a point in my life to where I was like, you know, things were good and I wasn’t putting a lot of premium on my happiness.” (32:43)

• Coming out wasn’t just for public good—it was for himself:

  “A lot of people will come up and be like, oh, thank you for doing this for us and what you’ve done for the community. And that’s amazing... But it was for me. It really was. Because I needed it. I couldn’t do it anymore.” (36:34)

• Profound quote on authenticity:

  “What if it [being gay] is actually, like, the biggest part of you?... it was so... I can almost cry thinking about it now.” (37:12)

• Advice to listeners struggling to come out:

  “There is never going to be a good time to do it. It’s awkward... but unfortunately, people will say, I don’t want to hear about it. And I’m like, I don’t want to talk about it either. But unfortunately, it’s part of the... Until we get to the point where it isn’t a thing... But also don’t wait for this divine moment that’s just going to suddenly happen. It rarely will ever come. And you just have to... take a leap of faith and you'll land on your feet and you'll be happy you did.” (42:39)

Family, Fatherhood, and IVF

• T.J. talks about his wife and their IVF journey, offering solidarity to Bunnie:

  “I think the last one was our fifth [IVF round]... it’s brutal... but that is what it is. The trickiest part is the mother has to pump herself full of an insane amount of hormones.” (47:14)

  • Emphasizes importance of openness regarding IVF; shares emotional toll and ultimate joy in becoming a father to twins.

  “I've... I'll say the same thing that everyone says. It’s the hardest thing in the world that you’ll do... but it will be the best thing in the world...” (49:23)

• Bunnie relates:

  “You don’t realize how heavy IVF is until you get out of the first egg retrieval.” (47:29)

• John on being an uncle, desire to have kids someday, and their large, close family dynamic (53:07).

Career Highlights & Authentic Music

• Grammy win for “Younger Me”:

  “That song was just solely like this is something that I need to say... If you could talk to your younger self. I think all of us feel this way...” (55:33)

  • First time John brought a date to the Grammys; emotional, serendipitous acceptance.

Sibling Dynamics & Therapy

• Candid about fighting as siblings and working through tensions with “couples therapy”:

  “I think it takes us a minute to realize, okay, like, we were very passionate. We love what we’re doing. We love each other. We love, you know, this project, whatever it is, and try to keep that in mind.” (63:28)

  • Honors the value of therapy for any relationship.

Fun Moments and Pop Culture

• Spirited debate about AI, ChatGPT, and future robots (66:01).
• Family vacation stories and readiness to “roast” each other out of love (54:44).

Looking Ahead

• New Music & Touring
  • Working on a new album, “return to where we started,” honest to roots and family.
  • First single: “Finish This Drink,” inspired by life with their dad (69:42).
  • Headline tour planned for next year; family may join on the road.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Being unique should be rewarded, you know, and it finally is. I think in country music. Everyone’s wanting each artist to be really special in themselves. And I think that’s great. That’s when music’s at its healthiest.” — T.J. Osborne (15:59)
• “If you want to get to it, you got to go through.” — T.J. Osborne & John Osborne (29:57)
• “But it was for me. It really was. Because I needed it. I couldn’t do it anymore.” — John Osborne on coming out (36:34)
• “Peace is priceless, though.” — Bunnie XO (26:37)
• “The worst part about it... was getting to the point to where a lot of people were having... to hold the secret for me, and that was just not their cross to bear.” — John Osborne (39:44)
• “We’ve been doing it for a while, and I don’t foresee us going away anytime soon. And I really attribute that to going out and making real fans that did like what we were doing because it was different.” — John Osborne (20:59)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:32] - Brothers Osborne’s fashion sense and childhood style
• [08:38] - Growing up in Maryland & family’s musical roots
• [11:21] - Formation of Brothers Osborne
• [14:18] - Blending country and rock influences
• [18:30] - Challenges of breaking into the country scene
• [24:36] - Addressing mental health (John’s journey)
• [27:37] - T.J. on dealing with anxiety and therapy
• [32:05] - John’s experience realizing he was gay
• [36:34] - Coming out for self and others; authenticity’s role
• [42:39] - Advice on coming out
• [47:14] - IVF struggles and support
• [55:33] - Grammy win for “Younger Me” & its impact
• [60:47] - Sibling fights and couples therapy
• [66:01] - ChatGPT/AI and quirky family banter
• [69:42] - New album, single “Finish This Drink,” and tour plans

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Tone and Feel

Warm, honest, and brimming with humor—a conversation as much about heavy realness as it is about familial ribbing and the joy of living out loud. Bunnie XO's empathy and directness allow John and T.J. to open up on tough subjects, all while never losing their signature wit.

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This summary covers the core of the episode, highlighting identity, perseverance, music, mental health, and family—making it both a must-hear for fans and a guide for anyone embracing their unique journey.

Transcript

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[Bunny]

Bunny XO.

[John Osborne]

Bunny XO.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Is this thing on? What's up, babies? Welcome to another episode of Don Blonde. Today I have the boys on the couch. Brothers Osborne. The brothers who have rocked country music, redefined brotherhood, and prove that being different.

[Bunny]

Might just be your greatest hit.

[T.J. Osborne]

Welcome. Thank you.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Thank you. I worked hard on that.

[John Osborne]

That made me feel good.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Good. I love you guys. My husband loves you guys.

[T.J. Osborne]

Well, we love.

[John Osborne]

We love you guys. Honestly, I feel like. I mean, you know, his career is just, like, taking off to the stratosphere, but in such short period of time. But I love that I've gotten to know you guys just a little bit before that happened, and you guys haven't changed at all.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

We appreciate you guys. And I have always been obsessed with you because of how you dress. It's so cowboy couture, and I'm just like. It's so, like, tailored and just perfect. Every time I see you, I'm like, this outfit is fucking amazing.

[John Osborne]

Thank you. That means a lot coming from you.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Well, I mean, where. Where does the style, the sense of style come from? Like, is it something that you obsess about?

[John Osborne]

I think it's a multitude, multiple things. One, it's probably the fact that I'm a gay man. Gay man in there somewhere. Certainly doesn't hurt, right? And then, you know, we have stylists that help with this stuff.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Yeah.

[John Osborne]

And, of course, Abby is very stylish, so, you know, that's always at the last. You know, every time I, like, even I got dressed for the awards, I'm like, this jacket? This jacket?

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Yeah. No, it's always.

[T.J. Osborne]

It's.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

It's amazing. Top tier, always.

[John Osborne]

Even when I was a kid, I kind of love, like, wearing oddly. I mean, before I even had any clue what my sexuality was. When I look back now, I'm like, oh, my God, you were so gay. Like, I would wear, like, striped shirt, like a TGI Fridays red and white striped shirt with, like, a Bow tie when I was, like, eight.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

That's hot, though.

[T.J. Osborne]

His choice.

[John Osborne]

I love my hair. Super neat. Yeah, it's kind of like. Have you seen Rise of Gemstones?

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah, of course.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

I just watched the finale last.

[John Osborne]

Okay, so the latest season when there's the. What's this character? He's the little boy.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Yes, yes, yes, I was.

[John Osborne]

That was basically me as a kid.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

No, I think that's phenomenal. Because fashion. I have. I love fashion. So even as a kid, like, I wore a plaids. A red plaid skirt and an I rode the Bullet Gillies T shirt all the time, and you couldn't tell me any different, but I. Oh. But even when I think back to it now, like, I wear, like, band tees and, like, plaid skirts still. And it's like, it's. Sometimes it's something you're. You're just born with, too.

[John Osborne]

I know. Isn't it weird? Like, John's kids, you know, he's got twins.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

The twins, yeah.

[John Osborne]

And to watch just one just be a boy. And the girl, you know, she just naturally, like, she couldn't even speak yet. And she showed up. I don't know if it was to Christmas or something or Thanksgiving. And she has this. She's a year and a half, and she's like, check out. Check this out. She's like, this is what I want to see.

[T.J. Osborne]

And she does, like, a turn and she's looking at it.

[John Osborne]

She's like, ah. Like, check this, badass.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

She's got Uncle TJ's fashion sense. I love that.

[T.J. Osborne]

Marcel's, like, covered in dirt and his own gunk. He's got my fashion sense.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Oh, boy. Yeah, I love that. So you said you had a story to tell me that I was.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah. So this is probably a year.

[John Osborne]

This is on the record.

[T.J. Osborne]

This is on the record. This is a year. A year ago. Year and a half ago. It was not long after we had kids, and my wife gets hit up from her management. She's an artist as well, amazing singer, songwriter, and saying, yeah, you got asked to do your podcast, right? And she was like, okay, Yeah, I don't. I'm not sure why. I don't really have any music out. But, you know, we. We've talked about, like, fertility stuff and kids, and she's like, maybe she wants to. Maybe going into that or whatever. Turned out it was a scam.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Oh, no. Yes.

[T.J. Osborne]

And it was basically someone said, well, you have to sign on, but you have to give us, like, log into your computer so we can access it from afar. And Lucy signed on and then got kind of freaked out and was like, this doesn't seem right. And then close the tab. Fortunately, they didn't like going and get all of our information, but they were seconds away from it. And she thought she was doing your podcast. Isn't that sad? I told you it was a little bit tragic.

[John Osborne]

I know.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

I hate that people. The scam is just getting so out of control.

[T.J. Osborne]

They're so specific. Not only like, I get. If you're like. If you're sitting like, you know, I'm a prince from Africa and you sit down, 10 million.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Remember the Nigerians.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah, but this is so. This is so specific. Targeted at people, where they would go. I. They probably know that we know you guys, at least to some degree. Yeah. And I. I was kind of. I know I was a little pissed, but also kind of impressed about the. The move. The scammer.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

No, the way that they can even access people is just kind of. It's really scary.

[John Osborne]

Someone was actually texting her mom, pretending to be me. But the thing. I was in the room with my mom, she's like, is that you? And I'm like, what me? He's like, are you texting me? I'm like, why would I text you?

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Why do people always fall for.

[John Osborne]

I know. Well, that's like. That's the saddest part. They're often victims of that stuff, which honestly, I feel like I'm pretty savvy. And they're still. All the time. I'm like, is this ups?

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah, well, Lucy was really upset. She was like, I feel like such an idiot. But I'm like, look, but it came through your management. It wasn't like she got an email somewhere from a sketchy ass website.

[John Osborne]

But I get emails from John all the time. It's like, check out these pictures. And I'm like, my brother would never send me up.

[T.J. Osborne]

He doesn't. He doesn't open any of my dick pics.

[John Osborne]

What the hell?

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Look at these pictures.

[John Osborne]

I'm like, somebody's.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Somebody would be trying to get a hold of those for sure.

[John Osborne]

What if it really was somewhere. It really was him the whole time.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

He just wanted to see if you responded or not. Well, tell Lucy that I'm so sorry and that we will have to revisit that for sure now that I know that she's even willing to do that.

[T.J. Osborne]

Oh, of course. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I'll tell her. That'll make her.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

And I actually wanted to talk about you guys IVF journey too, on the podcast, which we'll get into it later.

[T.J. Osborne]

Sure.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

I want to kind of paint a picture for my viewers at home who don't know you guys kind of like, you know, your rise to fame. So if we could start, you know, where you guys grew up and go from there. Tell me a little bit about your childhood and what inspired you guys.

[John Osborne]

An interesting thing because, you know, for those who don't know, we're, we're east coast boys. We grew up in a little tiny water community called Deal, Maryland. And to a lot of people that do know that, they're always so surprised to hear that. They're like, how do you get into country music being from there? And we shot our music video for a song, one of our first singles called Rum in our hometown, to kind of give people a bit of a look, see into where we grew up, because it makes total sense when you see it. And on the new music that we're working on, we've kind of are going back to visiting that again where we're having a lot of. We'll go back and shoot videos and stuff back there in the hometown. But yeah, I mean, it's a very blue collar town. It's paradise. I mean, we grew up on the Chesapeake Bay.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

How beautiful was that?

[John Osborne]

It was so beautiful and an amazing place to grow up. But, you know, a lot of places like that tend to be, you know, like, really fancy. It was not. I mean, it was really blue collar.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Right.

[T.J. Osborne]

And.

[John Osborne]

And so growing up around there, it was usually like, you know, people were mostly listening to rock or they listen in the country, which is pretty. I think for us to kind of have the blend of both, I think makes total sense.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Yeah.

[John Osborne]

And then our. Both of our parents really tried their. Their hand in music. Our dad sang and wrote songs, and so did our mom, but then they had five kids and very little money. You know, her mom's a hairdresser, dad's a plumber. And so you guys are two of five. That's right. Yeah.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Okay. I never. I didn't even. That didn't even come up on Google. So where are the other three at?

[John Osborne]

So our oldest brother, Jimbo lives in Delaware.

[Bunny]

Jimbo.

[John Osborne]

Jimbo.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

We love Jimbo.

[John Osborne]

Yeah, exactly. It's one step down from Jim Bob. But then we got Rachel. She's in Florida. And then our sister Natalie works here in Nashville. She's in the music business as well. I think you may or may not have met her.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

But are they super supportive of you guys?

[John Osborne]

Extremely, Extremely so and so. But I think, you know, for Us, it was really kind of started as like our parents dream. We just kind of grew up around music all the time. We didn't really know any different. And then, you know, just kind of playing local bars and stuff. In fact, this tattoo. A lot of people want to know what's about. Is the first band that me and John and our dad was. Was in called Deuce and a Quarter After a Car.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

That's a great name.

[John Osborne]

I know.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

It is actually a really good.

[John Osborne]

And so we did that. And then slowly but surely, we're like, okay, we need either do this full time or not. And we were definitely like, you know, at that time, a big fish in a small pond. And. And so we came here, kind of did the opposite. But that was our. That was our upbringing. Yeah.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

So I had read somewhere that you guys had started off on, like, separate journeys, like separate bands, or have you guys always done.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah, so, I mean, yeah, we play a lot as kids, and we're always playing in bands together, playing with our dad. And then I moved here in 2000 to go to college, met a bunch of different musicians, and I ended up in a separate band with some other great musicians or friends of mine. Charlie Worsham. I don't know if you ever done anything with Charlie or. I'm sure Jelly might know Charlie.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

I think he does.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah. But a great session musician in town. This guy Josh Matthew, plays Dobro and a bunch of other really great musicians. And we had a band. It was called King Billy. It didn't really kind of pan out the way we wanted, but it was a great learning experience. Traveled all over the country in a van. Way too many hours, way too many hours sleeping on a bench seat in a van. But it was totally worth it. In your early 20s, you can get away with that. Yeah. And. And he was writing for the same publishing company at the same time, so he was still in town. We had written a few songs together for the band, and when that band broke up, he was doing his own project. So we were joining together, joining forces, writing a lot together, playing shows. And people kept going, man, we. It's so cool that you and TJ are finally in a band. We're like, well, no, we're not. We're not doing a band. We're just writing together. And I'm playing guitar for him. People kept showing up, showing up, and it just started to gain a lot of interest, and it was not our intention at all. Everyone's like, yeah, let's go. Other brothers are playing tonight. And eventually we had to just go, is this, like, official?

[John Osborne]

What we had to do was go, okay. Our mom was right. Yeah. She wanted this the whole time.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Mom knows best.

[John Osborne]

She didn't want it the whole time. We were like, no.

[T.J. Osborne]

Mom popped out. She was like, finally, I got a duo, and Natalie popped out. She was like, I got a trio, so she's still waiting on that one. And. And, yeah, it kind of. And then everything kind of took off after that. It just seemed like we followed the natural course of things. It was like the universe was almost like it was a divine. Something was making it happen.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Right.

[T.J. Osborne]

And then we listened to it, and then the rest was history.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

I love that. So have you guys always had a super close relationship, even growing up?

[John Osborne]

Yeah, we have. I mean, it's. I mean, about as close to, like, twins as you would get without actually being twins. We just did everything together.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

What's the age difference?

[John Osborne]

A little over two years. But there's. We. You know, we slept in bunk beds our whole lives. Shared, you know, shared a bedroom together.

[T.J. Osborne]

And still do on the bus.

[John Osborne]

And now we joke as we. We do. We. We've grown up and. And have. You live in separate houses, but we sleep half the year with each other on a bus and bunk beds again. So, yeah, we haven't. We haven't gotten that far.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Where does the rock influence come from? Because you guys, for being country, you guys have a pretty. Pretty rocker sound.

[T.J. Osborne]

I think this is a lot to do with where we grew up. Like, I grew up listening because I grew up. Guitar became my favorite thing in the world when I was, like, 12. Who.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Taught you the guitar?

[T.J. Osborne]

Our dad taught me some chords. My cousin Johnny taught me how to solo, or my Uncle Bill taught me a little bit. It was a bit of everyone. They wouldn't let me sit down with the family and sit around the table unless I would practice. And I was good enough to hold my own. So if there's a. If you want to get me to do anything, just tell me that. I can't, and I won't fucking do it. So. Just sat in the other room practicing, practicing, practicing.

[John Osborne]

You can't paint my. My house.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Yeah.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah. Damn it. And, yeah, I do a lot of things out of spite mostly. But anyway, so I did that. But I was obsessed with, like, guitar and rock music is just, like, go hand in hand. And we grew up listening to country. I rebelled against that a bit because it was, like, what our whole family listened to. And my early teenage years, I was like, love Nirvana and Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Like, that was an iconic time, such an era. My first concert was Stone Temple Pilots.

[T.J. Osborne]

Oh, my God, I love Stone.

[John Osborne]

I don't think there's ever. There hasn't really been anything quite like it since. No, it was just a complete change.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Why do you think that is, that we can't recapture that sound?

[T.J. Osborne]

Because.

[John Osborne]

Because now you have to be on Tick Tock to be famous.

[T.J. Osborne]

Well, I also think too, because back then there was a. There was a lot of counterculture going on. Like, the 80s produced, obviously, some great pop rock music that we all know and love. But there is this counter revolution to that where it became these bands out of like, California all the way, which is where STP is from all the way up to, like, where Pearl Jam and Nirvana, all the way up on the far west coast. And they wanted to be the anti that. So it became less about the spandex and the big loud pop songs, and it became about like the grit and the grunge. And I feel like things have kind of become so, for lack of a better word, a lot more pop in the rock world. And it never has really cured itself again of that to get back to where it once was. But it was a really pure era. I mean, every band.

[John Osborne]

I mean, you definitely see that happen a little in country music now. For sure.

[T.J. Osborne]

See it now in country more than.

[John Osborne]

Things got super, super polished and slick. And now people are really appreciating things that are raw and real and, you know, like your. Your husband, for instance. You know, someone that is just themselves.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah. Unique. It's like being unique should be rewarded, you know, and it finally is. I think in country music. Everyone's wanting each artist to be really special in themselves. And I think that's great. That's when music said it's healthiest.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

I feel like you guys are kind of the trailblazers for being unique because maybe.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah, I don't know.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

I know. I definitely feel like that because, you know, you guys came in on the scene and you guys were just. Did you. Okay, so you guys came in on the scene and you guys were like, you know, pretty like rock country, and like, you guys were still finding your sound. Did you feel like whenever you guys came on the scene that you guys had to kind of tone it down a little bit whenever you came into country?

[John Osborne]

No, I mean, it's weird. I mean, I guess, you know, if you were to circle all the way back to just like, again, being from Maryland, I feel like we just always have kind of been in this space of like Maryland. It's not really the north, it's not really the South. Like, you know, it's just what is it? No one seems to really claim it. And so, you know, I feel like it was kind of that way with us musically. I mean, we grew up there. I didn't really honestly know what genres were for a really long time in my life. I just knew the music I liked and I didn't like.

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[John Osborne]

And predominantly what I was influenced by and what inspired me were was country music and rock, like particularly classic stuff. And so, you know, as we came down here, we just started doing our own thing. But I felt like for the longest time like I, you know, was getting hired in town before we met a bit as a demo singer and then people stopped hiring me because they're like, oh, you don't sound like anybody else. Like you don't, we're trying to pitch this song to Blake Shelton and you don't sound like him. So. And then I was really irritated with myself. Honestly. I felt like, God, I don't have the chops to be able to get make money as a, as a demo singer to pitch songs to people. And then something at some point in time kind of flipped to me and I realized like, well, you know, I'm just going to start singing my own music and then it started there was like a moment even still, once we had a record deal and we're out working our music out at radio, there was a lot of times because we were. We sounded unfamiliar, our songs wouldn't test. And so then again, we were kind of in the same boat of like, well, we like you guys, but we didn't sound like all the people that were hitting really hard and familiar, like Luke Bryans and. And all these people. And so. But again, it was like, do we want to follow kind of what everyone's doing and already winning with, you know, our manager? You know, it was like, you know, it's like the best. If you're not first the best you can be a second. And so we really were like, you know, we just really focused on what it is we're doing. And I think, you know, I've been thinking a lot about this recently because there's, like, so much, like, turmoil in, like, what country music is. That's not country. This is country. Or that's cool. This isn't cool. And it's annoying to me for the main reason of it's not what music is for. Like, it's just. It's not what it's about. And it's almost had been a great reminder for me to be like, man, people want to just listen to music to, like, party or if they want to cry or if they just want to feel nostalgic, you know, or whatever.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yes.

[John Osborne]

No one's thinking, man, I'm gonna listen to this because this is going to make me cool as shit.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Yeah.

[John Osborne]

Or I'm gonna listen to this because now I'm a country person now.

[T.J. Osborne]

Right.

[John Osborne]

It's like, it's just totally not important. And so I feel like for us, it was like focusing on what, you know, what is it that we like and our fans, like, and finding those people. And it's taken us a really, really, really long time to do it. And, God, I felt like we just have been passed so many times by other new artists, and we've just been kind of in our lane just doing our thing.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

I feel like slow and steady wins the race, though.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah, well, I don't know if we.

[John Osborne]

You know, we certainly, you know, aren't the. The biggest artists that that's ever happened in this business, but we're still here, and we've been doing it for a while, and I don't foresee us going away anytime soon. And I really attribute that to going out and making real fans that did, like, what we were doing, because it Was different. And so, yeah, that's still. Still kind of our. Our mantra and our goal and our inspiration with all of it.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Absolutely. I think that's exactly what you have to do because, you know, like I just said, Sloan said he wins the race because you're building that core fan base of diehards who really ride with you, and that's so much more special than these people who kind of, like, make it overnight because their fans don't really know them.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

So whereas your fans just consume everything and love you guys for the people that you are as well as your music.

[John Osborne]

Totally. And, you know, and then you feel a sense of, like, being loyal back to them because, you know, you were here the whole time. Like, I don't want to switch this up when you were in the 11th hour. Like.

[Bunny]

Right.

[John Osborne]

You know, this is any person I don't want to let down. It's the fan that started with us from the bottom who finally, once we started having success, was able to be like, I told you, like, these. These are my guys.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

I believed in you.

[John Osborne]

Yeah. And there's a sense of pride there, and we want to do good by those people, you know, particularly them. And then also our family, everyone that was just, you know, there when we weren't shit.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

I love that. So let's take it back. I read something somewhere that you tried out for American Idol.

[John Osborne]

I did not. I did not. Although my mom really still thinks to this day that had I did try out for American Idol, that I would have made it and my career would have been a lot faster and bigger and soared a lot higher than it had.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Mom is full of opinions, and that's crazy that this says. It says TJ was once rejected from American Idol, that he tried out in his early 20s and didn't make it past the first round. People just make it up.

[John Osborne]

Well, that's not wrong. I didn't make it past the first round. I never. I never.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

He's like, it's kind of.

[John Osborne]

No. You know, the thing is, it's funny because, like, I don't. I wouldn't have them. I don't think I would have the. The muster for that.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Right.

[John Osborne]

You know, I feel like there was so critical to. I know. You know, the thing is, too, I feel like, you know, there was used to be, like, an era where it was like, God, people would look kind of down, like people are making on, like, the fastware American Idol or. Oh, they got famous on YouTube. It used to be. Then it was Snapchat, and now it's Tick tock. And I'm like, you know what? Like, if you can make it in this business, good for you. It's really, really, really hard. And then to not only make it but then to keep it, it's, it is so hard and it takes a lot of work and it's really fun and it's glamorous, what a lot of people see, but there's a lot of stuff in the back that is ugly and not sexy and a lot of work and, and a lot of no's and a lot of heartbreak to get there. So I've, you know, I've since changed my tune on that. Especially now that you're a TikTok because you're like, oh my God, you're a TikTok star. And I think, you know what, that's hard to do. I couldn't do it if you were to tell me right now. Here, tj, do a dance and whatever. I wouldn't be good at it.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

I bet you it would go Vi and you guys for a totally different reason.

[T.J. Osborne]

TikTok. There's that asshole that can't dance.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

But that's what, that's what makes it so fun is like you get on there and you make a fool of yourself and it goes viral and then people just, you get a whole new crowd of people that are like, who's this person?

[John Osborne]

Oh, well, maybe we should do it then as our managers over here. Like, yes, anything.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

She's like, maybe, maybe not. John, you have been so vocal about your mental health. I feel like the year 2020 and 2021 were big years for you, gu. Like it was almost like, I don't know if like Saturn was in you guys charts at that time.

[John Osborne]

Saturn, like a thing you want.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Oh, that's Daddy Saturn. You learn all the lessons and it's like if you don't learn that lesson, it comes back around and it repeats itself.

[John Osborne]

So it's like the opposite of Mercury in retrograde. Because I feel like Mercury is always in retrograde.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Literally it's always doing something.

[John Osborne]

Can Mercury chill out?

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Yeah. So Saturn, Mercury, just fuck off, please. Like altogether. I get so frustrated with it.

[John Osborne]

So Saturn's will be okay. I'm going to get Saturn tattoos too.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Daddy Saturn.

[T.J. Osborne]

Daddy Saturn.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

So I feel like you guys both had really hard years and you know the 20 in 2020-2021, you went through something with your mental health. Can we dive into that?

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah, absolutely. At the end of 2019. I've always struggled with anxiety and like I've teetered into. Into depression here and there, but it's mostly anxiety and. I don't know, it went unchecked for a long time. I've never struggled with addiction, fortunately, you know, I drink and do some other things recreationally for fun, but I've never been addicted to it. But I am addicted to work. I'm a workaholic. I just work and work and work, and when things are getting harder for me, instead of me stopping, I'm like, no, I can work harder, and then I can work my way through it. Well, apparently you can only do that for so long. And at the end of 2019, we were on the road. We were on tour with Willie Nelson, Alison Krause and Bonnie Raitt, who are like, I don't know, like, of our Mount Rushmore growing up. That's probably three of the four. And I. I felt nothing. I was just depressed, confused, tired. I wasn't sleeping. And then I ended up getting something called tinnitus, or tinnitus, some people call it, ringing in my ears. And I still have it. Long story short, that's. I'm in a good place with that now. But at the time, it was a perfect circle of a lot of things, and I was being tormented, not only from my ears driving me crazy, but my mind also driving me crazy. And I wasn't sleeping. And I ended up pulling out of that tour, which is nuts to me, like, to think that I did that now. It's like, again, I would still just jump for joy if I was on that tour.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Peace is priceless, though.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah, it is.

[John Osborne]

And it's. That is such an underrated thing. We think of all the things you want, but peace is mad.

[T.J. Osborne]

I know when you're. When you're in pursuit of this dream, it's a. It's hard. It's a hard one to catch, you know, it's very fleeting. It's like trying to catch. Your shadow is always right there, but you never quite get it. And you unfortunately neglect a lot of things that need attention in your life. And for me, it was mental health, and for other people, it's, you know, maybe physical health, family, and a lot of other things.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Is that something you struggled with as a child, too, or did it happen just to.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah, I did. I was quite, you know, very shy as a kid. When I played guitar, it was like, oh, my God, this is how I know how to speak. I know how to be myself. I had, like, an oasis, you know, And I found, like, friends that were also, like, geeky musician, nerds I'm like, oh, these are my people. But I've always struggled with it, and I still do, but I'm in a lot better place. So I ended up going. There's a place in town called On Site. I'm not sure if you're familiar with it, but it's very big in the music.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

We love Miles Adcock.

[T.J. Osborne]

Miles is amazing. Miles is one of the people I talked to before I went there. I ended up going to something called Milestones, where they send the real crazy people. That's where I went. And, you know, it was really hard. It was probably the hardest. I was there for three weeks. The first week, I was like, get me the out of here. And one day they were like, look, you're not institutionalized. Like, you can leave. And once they put the ball in my court, I was like, I knew deep down I shouldn't, and I stayed. And I told myself, okay, if I'm gonna stay, I'm going to just be at everything and raise my hand every question. I'm going to immerse myself in this. And I did. And a lot of things changed. I became. I took the curiosity part of my brain that was curious about music and guitar and all of these things and became curious about mental health and the brain and the evolution of the brain and, you know, the prefrontal cortex versus the. The. You know, the. The lower part of your brain, like the limbic system and the amygdala, all these things. Like, I had to go super nerd mode because that's what my brain likes. And it allowed me to really understand this thing that we carry around in our heads, that we have so little that's so mysterious to us. And after that, I just decided to change a lot of things in my life. And since then, I've had kids, which helps. You have to prioritize things once they pop up because, you know, they were not going to give you a choice. You have to prioritize them. And everything in my life is. It's better now than it's ever been. I still struggle, but I know what to do with it now.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

It's amazing that you had the foresight to know, like, hey, I can't leave here because I'm not okay.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

And, like, to really. A lot of people don't want to do the work. You have to get through the darkness to see the light. I preach about mental health on my podcast all the time because I suffer from severe anxiety and depression also. And ocd.

[T.J. Osborne]

Well, not that good, but.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

No, no, I get it. Yeah, yeah, no, I know, I know.

[T.J. Osborne]

I will say one of the things that they talked about there a lot. You said the word go when you go through it, but it's. It's. It's something that we take as like some sort of colloquialism, as if, like, oh, I'm just going through something. But if you really think about the words, think about, I'm going through it. That's the only way to go through it. You can't go above it. You can't go under it. You can't go around it. You got to go through it.

[John Osborne]

Yep.

[T.J. Osborne]

And. But you will come out the other side. It's gonna suck, but you will come out the other side. So you have to be willing just to go through it.

[John Osborne]

What do they say? If you want to get to it, you got to go through.

[T.J. Osborne]

You got to go through.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

It's like, to get into it, go through.

[T.J. Osborne]

And also, you know, the more you do it, almost kind. Better you become at it, the less avoidant you are of it. The more you lean into it, the more inquisitive you are about yourself and your experiences, the more you're inquisitive you are about your own mental health.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Absolutely.

[T.J. Osborne]

It just gets easier with time. It never goes away. It just gets easier.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Yeah, absolutely. I couldn't agree with that. 100. And I preach on this podcast also that you have to do the work. It's not going to just happen overnight. Like, you have to rip that band aid off and bleed again and let it scar.

[John Osborne]

It's tough because you can't see it. You know, it's like, right, okay. If you got a cavity or something that's like, you know, anything. If you were to cut yourself, it's like things you obviously need to go work on and take care of, that anyone would do and wouldn't think twice about it or apologize for it.

[T.J. Osborne]

Well, the fact that it's more part of the conversation now, like, you talking about, it's massive. Anyone that has, like, a good outreach talking about it is going to help put it in the conversation and then destigmatize it.

[John Osborne]

Oh, it's also part of the healing is talking about it. I mean, the same thing with like, Like, I mean, get being nervous. I remember when I would go on stage and I would get nervous, I would be. I would always try to be like, I'm not nervous. But I was like, like, yeah. And it's weird how just talking about it will help. I mean, like, not trying to fight it. Like, you, I'm going on stage, I'm like, damn, I'm nervous as hell right now. Like, it makes me feel bad. I don't know why that does help, but it does, because you're recognizing it.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Yeah. You're. You're what the mind thinks the body will follow. And, like, when you speak words out, it, like, registers with your mind. And. I don't know, it's just. It's crazy. The whole psychological.

[T.J. Osborne]

And a lot of it, too, is processing. Like, if you're nervous, you know, and sitting down and clenching your hands, your body doesn't want to do that. Your body wants to kind of get up and move. That's what nerves are. It's a sympathetic nervous response. So if you're nervous and talking about it and kind of moving, that's really good for you. That's what your body wants.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Yeah, absolutely. I'm so happy you got the help that you needed and that you're doing so much better now.

[T.J. Osborne]

Thank you.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

I want to talk about your IVF journey, but next, let's talk about TJ. 2021 was a big year for you. When did you know that you were gay?

[John Osborne]

When I started liking boys.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

So, like, you felt like as a child. No, it wasn't. I thought it was funny. I thought it was funny.

[John Osborne]

He's cute, all right. I guess. No, me too.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

No, I'm just kidding.

[John Osborne]

Exactly. I was young. I mean, really, really young. I didn't really understand it, but, I mean, it was. It was, I would say, pretty much my whole life. I mean, one person comes into real. Oh, like, you're. You're cute, or I have a crush and not really knowing what that is. I mean, pretty young age, and. But for a long time, I, you know, of course, I denied it and fought it, and I was like, no.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Way did you deny it because you felt like you didn't have a safe space to be able to come out.

[John Osborne]

Not. It just didn't feel like me. I mean, I guess I. Like, you know, at the time, it was like, you know, a lot of the cliches of what being gay was. And not that there's anything wrong with any of that stuff. It just wasn't what I necessarily identified as. And mostly I just. I mean, I was just like a. I felt like a regular guy who likes doing redneck. And I was like, this isn't. This isn't how this works. And. And it just didn't fit into my life, you know, And I was like, this isn't, you know, what I want for myself. And I just felt like the image of what I wanted myself or what I wanted for myself, like, to have children and, you know, have a family and, you know, those types of things which, you know, later in life you come to realize, you certainly can have those.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

That was also programmed that as a.

[John Osborne]

Child 100, you know, and that's kind of the. An interesting thing is because, you know, like, you know, I was like, talking about, like, Shelly Wright, amazing artists in the 90s, had a bunch of hits, and she came out, you know, as lesbian. But she, you know, brought this interesting point of just like, you know, being groomed. Like, you know, she's like, I was groomed my whole life to be. To be straight. You know, like, no one wanted this for me. And I felt very similarly. I never really thought about it that way. And I actually, you know, I'm very fortunate because, you know, and this is why I don't really love to harp on it too much or be like, oh, my life was that. I mean, I certainly had a lot of heartbreak, but I grew up in a really good family. I mean, our parents could not have been more supportive of their children, regardless of what they did or who they were, as long as they were good people. And so I was really, really fortunate to grow up around that. So that was, like, really encouraging. And then, as you know, I came up. It was like you kind of get. Then get stuck in the narrative, and it's weird to break out of it. Like, I always kind of, like, liken it to someone calling you the wrong name or something. And I'm like, I don't really want to tell you my name isn't John. That's my brother.

[Bunny]

Right.

[John Osborne]

But I don't want to brush your bubble because I don't make you feel bad. And then you get kind of stuck in this thing where you're like, everyone's thinking this one thing about me, and it's not even hardly about me. It's more of I'm worried about them feeling bad, and there's just so many things that are going on. But I did eventually reach a point in my life to where I was like, you know, things were good and I wasn't putting a lot of premium on my happiness. I didn't even really know what that felt like. You know, I didn't know what I was missing. And then eventually I just got to a point to where, you know, I was in a relationship that I was really happy with. I was really happy with where my life was through all the shitty stuff of the pandemic. It did kind of give us a minute to stop and smell the roses, you know, like, our lives are good.

[Bunny]

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[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

And all your contacts come with you.

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[John Osborne]

CementMobile.com and I was like, is this. This is time, you know, to do this for. For me. And so a lot of people will come up and be like, oh, thank you for doing this for us and what you've done for the community. And that's amazing. I certainly hope it's not for nothing, right? But it was for me. It really was. Because I needed it. I couldn't do it anymore.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Well, it has to be like a weight on your shoulder.

[John Osborne]

It was. I didn't really realize it, though. That was. It wasn't like I was just unhappy. I didn't. It was a huge weight on my shoulders. I didn't realize until it was gone. I was like, holy.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Yeah.

[John Osborne]

Like, I didn't even want to talk about it. Like that. When I was telling, I was like, when I come out, I just want to come out and I want to move on.

[T.J. Osborne]

Right?

[John Osborne]

And then instantly I just felt way different. I'm like, I do want to talk about it. It's a huge part of me now. Like the Sam Lansky who wrote the article that I came out with, he was one of the writers for Time magazine and an amazing Person, also a gay man himself. And I was like, you know, it's like, it's not a. It's not a big deal. You know, it's just not the biggest part of me. You know, it's like there's so many other things that define me. And very simply, he said, what if it is, though? What if it's actually, like, the biggest part of you? And I was like, I can almost cry thinking about it now. It's like it was so. It was. Yeah, this is a huge part of me, and I've marginalized it in myself to make myself feel better about it. But it actually is wildly huge in how I think and how I feel. Empathy that I have for other people and that have things in their lives that I don't understand. But I do understand what it was like to have to feel like you had to be someone else. Like, this is really terrible. And so as it pertains then to our career, it's been a beautiful thing to have come out because I felt like, man, we've always prided ourselves on just being like, this is who we are. Like, this is take it or leave it. But I'm like, well, not really entirely, you know, for me and being able to actually be at that point, I feel like such a great relationship with my. With the fans, such a better relationship with my friends, and most importantly, a way better relationship with myself. Like, I really love myself for the first time. And I. And I didn't really think about it before, but I didn't before, you know, and it's a. And it's kind of. We have a song called I don't Remember me before you, which the irony of this is that it was a song that was Shane McNally. He's also gay. Was talking about. He doesn't remember his life before his. He had his children. And he's like, I don't remember it at all. And that's kind of what the inspiration of that song was about. And a lot of people have used it as their wedding song. In fact, our sister Natalie asked me last night if we would sing it at her wedding, which is coming up here in a few weeks.

[T.J. Osborne]

And she didn't ask me. Yeah, she's like, my phone call.

[John Osborne]

Yeah, you can sing it if you want to.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

I think you guys just move as a unit.

[T.J. Osborne]

Presumptuous Natalie.

[John Osborne]

So I sing the song a lot of times, even though it's about, like, kind of your life after a relationship, a lot of times it makes me really even more emotional now. When I sing it, because I don't truly. I don't remember myself before 21. Like, I kind of do, but how I felt and my life is just so different and. And so in all the best ways, I don't remember what it was like to manage that before, thankfully.

[Bunny]

Because you're living in your authentic authenticity.

[John Osborne]

Yeah, exactly. Which is just so much easier. You know, I have to. But the worst part about it though, honestly, wasn't even. I got so good at managing it. And by the way, if you just want someone not to like, like, pry into your life, all you got to do is ask them a question. I mean, this is basically what you're doing here. People love to talk about themselves, so if you want to divert, be like, what about you? And they're like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So I could just easily swerve. But what I didn't like is it was getting to the point to where a lot of people were having. That did know, were having to hold the secret for me, and that was just not. Not their cross to bear. I had a really good friend be like, oh, my God, I feel so terrible. I outed you. And I was like, don't feel bad, man. Like, this is not your. Like, it shouldn't be like this. Like, if you lose any sleep over it, like, it that would. I would lose more sleep about that than anything.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

The self awareness, though, that's amazing that you have, you know, that's amazing because most people wouldn't think about how other people are feeling carrying their secret.

[John Osborne]

Yeah. But it sucks, you know, and is. And people that love me, you know, and it was like, people that I know would never, ever cross me in any way, that have done it a couple times accidentally and. And felt all this guilt about it. I'm like, this is bullshit. Like, this is just. It's just not worth it, you know, Like. Like all this is amazing to have, you know, the lives that we have. But I also had so much fun when I was like, broke and eating ramen noodles and sleeping on couches. Like, I had the best times of my life.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Jay and I talk about that all the time. We used to tour in an 18 passenger van.

[John Osborne]

Exactly.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Sleep at the, like, scummiest Motel Sixes. Like, that was the best fucking time of our life.

[John Osborne]

Exactly. And it's so true. I mean, I don't want to do it again.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Yeah, it was really, really cool. But, you know, I never want to do it again, so.

[John Osborne]

But anyways, when you kind of look through that and I Felt that was what the pandemic really reminded me because it took everything away.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Yeah.

[John Osborne]

And we were losing more money than I thought we would ever even make in our lives. And I was. And I was blissfully happy. I mean, we were just sitting around the family playing board games and drinking beers by the fire. It was, like, free, pretty much. And I was like, this is so much fun. This is all I'll ever need. And I found, through the hope, honestly, encouragement of some really close friends of mine, too, that were like, yeah, like, you know, I got your back. And that was also really important. I think it's worth noting that every person that was working for me or with me, people that were definitely affected by things that will happen in my life, not once did anyone be like, man, I don't know, like, this could change things. Everyone was just totally had the wind at my back. And that's where I don't really like to ever feel like, oh, it was hard for me, because it was hard. But there's so many people who don't have the. They have a complete opposite. Like, they'll. They'll come out and lose their families. Yes, they'll come out. They'll lose their careers or whatever, or they might lose their wife. No kidding. That was a dream. But anyhow, you know, so there's people it's really, really tough on. And I know people that literally don't even talk, speak to their parents, and probably never will. And so that's. That's hard.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

What kind of advice would you give to say, you know, somebody who's listening to this podcast right now that is struggling with their sexuality and wanting to come out, like, how. What advice would you give them?

[John Osborne]

I mean, it's tough. There's so many things. I mean, the most cliche thing, which is true, is it does get better. I mean, once you do it. There's not a single person that I know that has come out and has not felt like they wish that they had done it earlier. I'm like, oh, my God, I wish I could have my whole 20s like this. Now I get. Some people just doesn't fit in. It's not the time. The other thing is that I would say there is never going to be a good time to do it. It's awkward. It's weird. It's just. I didn't want the attention from it. It's a strange, annoying thing that we have to do. But you. Unfortunately, people will say, I don't want to hear about it. And I'm like, I Don't want to talk about it either. But unfortunately it's part of the. Until we get to the point where it isn't a thing. Unfortunately it is. It is. And so that's what I would say. Like, just be patient, it does get better. But also don't wait for this divine moment that's just going to suddenly happen. It rarely will ever come. And you just have to some, at some point, just take a leap of faith and, and you'll land on your feet and you'll be happy. You did.

[Bunny]

Yes.

[T.J. Osborne]

I love that.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

That's beautiful. So John, let's come over here to you and let's talk about your wife a little bit. We talked about her in the beginning, but you guys have 2007.

[T.J. Osborne]

That sounds right.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Smoking like a true man.

[John Osborne]

Well, to be honest with you, he was. We were at the ACMs the other night and he was talking about his. They neither one of them remember dates very well. Lucy booked a show on their anniversary.

[T.J. Osborne]

It's our 10 year anniversary. And I don't know on the 1st. So what is it, like a week or something? I don't know. Not a week. Sorry. It's like three weeks. Yeah. And, and yeah. And Lucy, I, I had forgotten she was talking about. She's like, yeah, the day before that's her sister's wedding. And she's like, I don't know, I just, I feel bad. Like I know I'm gonna be partying and I hope I can sing that day. And then it just occurred to us like, wait, that's our 10 year anniversary. She bought the gig.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Like that's, that's like me and my husband, we don't know the date that we got married.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah, that's kind of how we are. But I don't know. I mean my wife and I, I adore our relationship. And the fact that we're similar in that way, it just makes it work that much more. Yeah, I mean, in fact, I remembered our first anniversary and she forgot it. And when I. It was like the day I was like, so what, what day is it today? She's like, what, what day is it today? She's like, it's a Thursday. I'm like, yeah, but something else. She's like, oh my God, it's our one year anniversary. I'm like, the fact that you forgot is the greatest gift you could have ever given me. Because now it's like all the pressure is off, you know, 100.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

But relationships like that last though, when there's not so much Information. Having to celebrate. Yeah, like, we don't do that either.

[T.J. Osborne]

Valentine's Day, we don't do a dinner, but usually not, you know, like, I.

[John Osborne]

Mean, it's probably important for those people that just don't celebrate each other that often, you know, But I feel like we all. We all do that. Like. Yeah.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

And we live in love every day, so it doesn't.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah, 100%. We got married in our kitchen, and we kept it really small. We didn't have a wedding. TJ and Natalie threw a party, and it was super chill. We've always kind of been like that, you know, but we met in 2007. We were both writing for the same publishing company at the time. I heard her sing on stage, and, you know, that accent, and she's beautiful. And I'm like, she is gorgeous, this person. I need to be around them as much as possible. And we wrote and we hit it off, and, you know, we kind of talked on offer a long time and then made it official. The beginning of relationships are always weird. I don't care who you are. They're just. You kind of have to get through the muck and.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

So uncomfortable.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah. It's just. It's just weird, you know? But if it's worth it, you'll figure it out. And then. And then we did. And then fast forward, you know, a bunch of years. We got married in a kitchen. We're both artists and writers and creators in pursuit of a similar thing. And. But due to that, you know, there are a lot of people in our business that wait a long time for kids. Honestly, we didn't really talk about having kids. It wasn't on the top of my mind, actually. Wasn't on my mind at all.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Right.

[T.J. Osborne]

It wasn't for her either. And then it just kind of. Of evolved to a point where we were just talking about it, you know, entertaining the idea. But by the time that happened, it was a little bit too late for us. And through a few. Well, a lot of attempts, use your imagination, you know, things that didn't really pan out. So we tried ivf, and we did several rounds of ivf, and this was like.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

When you say several, how many? Because my husband and I are in the middle of our IVF journey.

[T.J. Osborne]

You are. Okay. So I think. I think by the. I think the last one was our fifth. Wow. So how. How far are you?

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

I'm about to start my second ritual.

[T.J. Osborne]

Your second. Okay. So.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

It's brutal.

[John Osborne]

It's. I'm just observing them do it.

[T.J. Osborne]

It absolutely sucks.

[Bunny]

Heavy.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

You don't realize how heavy IVF is until you. You get out of the first egg retrieval.

[John Osborne]

And you're like, it's hell.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah.

[John Osborne]

And most people are obviously like, I mean, you're talking about it here, but I mean, most people, it's a pretty personal, private thing.

[Bunny]

Yes.

[John Osborne]

So they're dealing with all this, like, emotional stuff, kind of.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

No, you have to talk about it.

[T.J. Osborne]

You have just, like. I think you just have to talk. The more you talk about things more in the open, like your sexuality and, you know, and then they're obviously varying degrees of that, but when you talk about it, it just becomes more of the conversation. That's something that you hold. Doesn't feel so heavy anymore. But it was really hard, you know, I mean, best of luck to you guys all, sending you guys all the love, prayers of good vibes. But it was. I had no idea how hard it was going to be for even just for me, having to not so much go, I'm excited about having kids, which I was. But having to see the person I love more than anything in the world go through that. Because there are a lot of implications around the idea of having to do IVF anyway, which I'm sure you understand. Like, well, I wish I would have done it this way. There's a million things of. I wish it could have be that. Right?

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Yes.

[T.J. Osborne]

But that is what it is. The trickiest part is you have. The mother has to pump herself full of an insane amount of hormones.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

It's an and. But you know what's crazy is I was so happy. Like, I thought I was prepared to be, like, just crazy. I even told my husband, I love you, go on tour. I'm gonna do this at home. If I don't talk to you for a few days, it's because I'm going through it. I was the happiest I ever was.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

It was after the egg retrieval that was.

[T.J. Osborne]

It was just brutal for me.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

It was rough.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

So rough.

[T.J. Osborne]

It was. It was really, really, really hard. And, you know, I mean, there is, like. I do think back at it as, like, a movie. Like, I remember us first going to the clinic and us laughing and we're, like, giddy, you know, which is crazy for me to think at the time because kids just wasn't even on my radar.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Yeah.

[T.J. Osborne]

But the more I thought about, the more excited I became. And it was one unsuccessful one after the other. And you hear a lot of things of people saying, well, we tried four or five, six rounds, and then we gave up. And Then we got pregnant on the next one. I'm sure you've had a million people tell you that. To me as the. The dude, I'm just like, oh, that's interesting. But Lucy's like, well, now I feel like I'm doing something wrong. Like, you're making me feel like I'm doing this wrong. You know, of course we stop, and then it doesn't work right, you know, and you're always gripping on to hope and. But it finally did happen. My wife and I have a. A. A boy and a girl, twins, little, like, little ginger kids. And it is the greatest thing in the world. It is the greatest thing. It's. I've. You know, I'll just. I'll say the same thing that everyone says. It's the hardest thing in the world that you'll do. You'll ever do, but it will be the best thing in the world that you'll ever do. I mean, like, I'm here right now hanging out with you guys. This is awesome. But I'm, like, pumped to get home because it's. They're just waking up from nap time. I want to go hug my babies. It is like that dopamine, serotonin bomb goes off in your body. So I genuinely hope the best for you too, and I truly believe it will happen, but you just have to be patient.

[John Osborne]

That's all I got. I'm sorry you're going through that. I noticed it.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

I appreciate it. You know, I'm a soldier, so we're gonna get through it. I believe it, and it's gonna. I. I'm. I'm, like, so delusional sometimes that I pretty much manifest everything in my life.

[T.J. Osborne]

You have to be a little bit.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

I'm. I tell my husband all the time. I'm like, just let me be delusional. We're gonna get through this.

[Bunny]

Everything's fine.

[T.J. Osborne]

He's like, but your husband's an artist. We're artists. Like, you have to be delusional to do that. Yeah, there's a healthy amount. Absolutely.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

How has fatherhood changed you? And, you know, for the better.

[T.J. Osborne]

I mean, it's 99. For the better 1%, not for the better, because I'm just more tired than I was.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Yeah, well, with twins, too.

[T.J. Osborne]

But it. It makes you reprieve, reprioritize things. And it's not like you have a choice, really. Like, I don't go, oh, man. Now I have to really think about my day. Like, we have a nanny that helps out. She's done at Five o'. Clock. I have a studio similar to you. Like really close to the house. At 5 o', clock, I'm like, I gotta go. I'm done. I gotta go be with my kids. And it's not even. Because I think, well, it's the right thing to do. No, I want to go be with my kids. And I realized, like, our career, as great as things have been, it, you know, it's not worth taking that seriously when there are much more pertinent things in life like family and love and friends and, and, you know, this. Our industry is full of no's and failures. And now when I hear a no or there's a failure, I'm like, whatever. Yeah, my kids are awesome. This is amazing. Like, no matter how big or great or how bad something is in this industry, it just pales in comparison to that. Yeah. And you know, hopefully for Jelly, like, there's this funny thing I tell a lot of dads. Like, you have like an extra gear. I'm not saying if you don't have kids, you're missing out. Not having kids can be great because you do whatever the you want. Right. I do miss that. But when you have kids, you're like, whoa, I have this kind of extra gear where I'm. I just kind of know how to do this. It's this weird subconscious kind of innate sense that you have. And yeah, it's the best. I mean, I just really hope the best for you too, because when it happened, and it will happen, it's just your life will be forever changed for the better.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

I love it. You light up when you talk about them. When you talk about your wife and your kids. It's the cutest thing ever.

[T.J. Osborne]

I love.

[John Osborne]

They're great. I mean. Yeah.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

What's it like being an uncle? Do you ever want to have kids?

[John Osborne]

I would love to have children at some point in time for sure. But I. There is. I've been an uncle for a long, long, long time. We have our oldest brother and sister.

[T.J. Osborne]

Right.

[John Osborne]

They, I mean, there's, we've got. God. How old are oldest nephew? Probably 30, 33, 4 or something like this.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Wow.

[John Osborne]

And they have kids, so a lot. There's a lot of babies in the family, but it's, it's kind of the, the, I think the first time where I was of an age where I feel like I can actually be an uncle, I was like a, I was basically just a child or a growing boy. Yeah. When, you know, a lot of them were, were, were growing up. But it is Amazing. They're just getting to the age now, and it's like, you know, two years old. They're just now kind of like learning to speak. And they're fun. You can throw them around. We rough with them and. Yeah, no, it's amazing. We've got a lot of a big family, so there's a lot of babies.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

I bet you guys are a blast to hang out with.

[John Osborne]

It is a fun family, you know? So we got our sisters getting married at the end of this month, and she's. Her and her fiance, Jacob, are having their wedding at my home. And so I'll have, like, it's going to be amazing, but there's going to be 15 at least people staying with me, you know, or more. A lot of. A lot of newborn babies, and it's going to be lovely, but it's also going to be like. Like, oh, my God.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

When they leave, you're gonna be like, all right, see you later. Don't let the door. The door hit you.

[John Osborne]

I know. I know.

[T.J. Osborne]

It's not.

[John Osborne]

I know. Every single one of us are going to be going through that at some different time of, like, this is a lot.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

That's how we are with family. Vacation comes up, we all get together. We all stay in the same house. Everybody's so excited. The first two days, by day three or four, we're like, okay, designated areas.

[John Osborne]

Someone's screaming at somebody, door slamming.

[T.J. Osborne]

Like, what the.

[John Osborne]

Yeah, I know. And the thing is, I look forward to those moments, too, because after they've passed, they're really funny to talk about, you know, like, in the weeks or months later. But, yeah, we've always had a big family, and that's, like. I think the biggest thing for us, it's always, like, really kept us so grounded, I think, in our lives is we just. I mean, our family will call us on our shit.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

That's amazing.

[John Osborne]

The kids are super proud of us. But they'll also be like, what now? Yeah, like, I know you're a nerd. Like, you're not that cool.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Yeah. They'll pop the head really quick.

[T.J. Osborne]

Exactly.

[John Osborne]

Yeah.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

So I want to circle back to 2022. After you came out, the silver lining was you guys did your song Younger Me, and you guys won a Grammy for that.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

That's amazing. That is an accomplishment because some people go through our whole music careers without winning a Grammy.

[John Osborne]

I know. It was. We had. You know, we had had the wonderful privilege of being nominated quite a few times. And in fact, I always joke that it somehow I think. I think the amount of times we lost is more impressive than the one time we won. But I, you know, we. It was really. I felt like serendipitous because that song, it was kind of like, you know, a lot of times you're writing songs, you're thinking about like, okay, where am I gonna play this? Like, are the fans wanna like it? People can sing along here. Is it gonna work on radio? Is it gonna. And that song was just solely like this is something that I need to say. And it kind of came out of nowhere. And John felt like in his setting that it was also applies to him. And you know, and for those of you who do not know something younger me, it's like if you could talk to your younger self. Like I think all of us feel this way. Like, oh my God, you know, like the. The heartbreak and how hard you are on yourself and. And just to be able to look back and be like, man, like you're gonna make it and you're gonna. Like how you turn out. Like you're. Everything's gonna be great. You know, like if I could just go back there and talk to my younger self, it'd be amazing.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah.

[John Osborne]

And that's kind of what the song, the inspiration for that song was and we had just released. Because when I did come out, I didn't want it to be around any promotion. I'm like, I don't want this to be opportunistic. I don't want to be a record, I don't want to be a tour. But there's always, I mean, amazingly, there's always shit going on in our lives.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Yeah.

[John Osborne]

So we had just released a record and I was like, okay. Then that came out. So then I was like, well, I want this song to be out. I don't want to wait for the next record that might be years from now because I probably won't want to say this then. And so we re released our Skeletons album with that song on it. And while it wasn't a song that we like worked for radio or wasn't this hit or like this thing that made us probably really any money necessarily. I don't. Probably a little. It was just the. I think the impact spiritually or emotionally and the connection to the fans and it felt really like this is just like a little nugget of reality here. Just some real shit. And it felt very serendipitous at that moment because I had been to the Grammys at this point. Probably. I don't know, maybe this might Be my. At that time, maybe 10th year going or close to it. And I had never once brought a date to the Grammys. And so it was, you can look up me giving my speech. I'm emotional mess. I'm crying. Cause I'm like, I'm at this award show accepting my first Grammy Award for a song that was inspired by me coming out. And it's the first time I've ever brought a date to the Grammy Awards.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

I got goosebumps.

[John Osborne]

It was. Yeah, it was. It fucked me up. I was like, you know, and then I'm there with my brother and it felt like we were like, you know, there's a picture and it's like we had our arms around each other walking down the aisle to get on stage. And I just see like 8 year olds, John and TJ, just like little boys going up there. And it was like there was so many things. I was like, oh, my God, like, we did it, you know, but also doing it for something that was important and not for the money, you know. And it was. It just was. It was perfect. And I was a. Yeah. Emotional. Damn ass. You know, I was so. I had this big, gaudy ass, like, gold suit on. I had dyed my hair blonde. And my, you know, I get back and our mother, she's like, she said, well, were you proud of yourself? And I'm like, I think you're supposed to say you're proud of me here, but.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Yeah, but yes, I really like Mom. I like mom.

[John Osborne]

You should have her on here. She's a character.

[T.J. Osborne]

She is a character.

[John Osborne]

I went over to her house and we went to her house for last night for Mother's Day, and we went to play 500 rummy.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah.

[John Osborne]

And she was just roasting my ass. I'm like, I came over here because I love you. Like, can you like, give me a. Give me a breath.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

I love it, though.

[John Osborne]

She's like, she goes, well, she's like. She's like, well, I am proud of you. And I was like, thanks, Mom. And I know that she is. I was just kidding, but. And then she goes, well, I thought you looked really handsome. But she hated my blonde hair. And she doesn't like that I wear anything that's gold.

[T.J. Osborne]

Oh.

[John Osborne]

And so she's always. She's always said this. And so she's like. And I'm wearing a gold suit. My hair is blonde. And she goes. And she's like, well, you looked really handsome, but your suit should have been silver and your hair shouldn't have been tied On. I'm like, that was the entire look. Other than just my face. It was the entire thing. What was it that you liked exactly? Oh, my God. You know, again, Mom's Hill.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

We love mom.

[John Osborne]

We love mom.

[T.J. Osborne]

TJ's her favorite, though, so I think she's. She just has a high bar for him.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Oh, God.

[John Osborne]

Does she ever.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah, she doesn't even deny it anymore.

[John Osborne]

But even last time, I'm just like, what the hell? Me and my sister are playing cards with her, and she's just like. I'm like, what the hell is this? A roast? What the hell's going on?

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

You're like, who needs enemies with family like this? So I just have one question to ask you guys before we talk about what we have to look forward to. Brother for brothers Osborne, for this year, touring together as much as you guys do and as closely as you guys do. Has there ever been, like, a really big fight while you're on tour or when you're about to go on stage?

[John Osborne]

I don't know that We've had a. We've had some fights.

[Bunny]

Yeah.

[John Osborne]

When they happen, everyone clears the fuck out. Like, we don't even have to say it. They're like, I don't want to be on either side of this. Like, everyone just evaporates.

[Chime Legal Disclaimer]

Does it.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Does you kind of, like, suck the air out of the room?

[T.J. Osborne]

Two big dudes yelling at each other. He's probably just like, ah, I'm just gonna go in the other.

[John Osborne]

And for the most part, we get along. But we did. And. And of course, I'll be like, you know, like our drummer or something. Adam. I'm like, adam, you were there. And then he's like, leave me the.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

At least they know to stay out of it, though.

[T.J. Osborne]

I know.

[John Osborne]

It is amazing. Yeah. And it was. It's totally the move.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Cuz you would hate if they chimed in and then you would have to.

[T.J. Osborne]

Gang up on them and be like.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Wait, what are you talking about?

[T.J. Osborne]

It's a live bomb. They're not going anywhere near it.

[John Osborne]

No, no, no. They're just like. And so. So when it happens, it is like, it's really acute and it's really big. And it gets. But It's. And within 15 minutes, it's over and we've moved on.

[T.J. Osborne]

And it's like, drink a beer.

[John Osborne]

And we're like, doing like, all right, that was good. We got that out of us. But there was a time I didn't want to talk about this. It's interesting, I think, is there was a time for whatever reason, a various. A bunch of little things just added up and to the point where John and I couldn't stand to be around each other. Like, we wouldn't. Like, we wouldn't be in the same. Literally would not be in the same room with each other. One would walk in and we'd just. Mother would leave. And it got. Was like. It was excruciating. It was just uncomfortable. And we went to couples therapy because we were like, what the hell is going on? We need to sort our shit out. This is not right. And again, you're like. You think of. You hear all these horror stories of, like, families and brothers getting in the music business, and you're like, we're not going to become that, like, Wonderwall or like, the Everly Brothers, you know, were famously. You know, like, those icons are famous.

[T.J. Osborne]

They're all like that.

[John Osborne]

Yeah. Although. Yeah. Anyhow, so I think made the point there and we. So we sat down and the therapist was like, man. He was just like, man, this is awesome. I'm like, what? He's like, you guys are, like, so mad at each other. This is great. And I'm like, what the hell are you talking about? He's like, this is amazing. You guys care so much about what you're doing that it has got you to where you're just both fucking pissed off. And I'm like, yeah, that's 100% right. And he's like, if you guys. If one of you didn't give a shit and you were just apathetic, that would be a huge problem. He said, but you guys are arguing so much because you care so much. And I was like, damn. Like, that was easy. I still have to pay you $150.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

It's perspective.

[John Osborne]

No, it was. And, you know, and honestly, to circle back to the mental health things and talking to people, it is almost always the most, like. Like, obvious things. They're just always right here. Just need to hear them. Like my Sam Lansky saying, well, maybe this is the biggest part of you. And I'm like, well, yeah, it's.

[T.J. Osborne]

Duh.

[John Osborne]

I mean, like, it's right here. I can't see it. And for this to happen. And so it was like a big changing point for us, and we still get after it, but there's some times where I think it takes us a minute to realize, okay, like, we were very passionate. We love what we're doing. We love each other. We love, you know, this project, whatever it is, and try to keep that in mind. And especially when John Admits that I'm right.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah.

[John Osborne]

Way smoother.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Who. Who's the one who always has to kind of give in is. Who's the hard headed one?

[John Osborne]

I don't know that either of us entirely, given I'm definitely more hard headed and outspoken. See, John's.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

You are. You're a Scorpio. Sagittarius.

[John Osborne]

I'm Scorpio.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, you're right.

[John Osborne]

You're right.

[T.J. Osborne]

Did you know that or did you just guess that?

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

No, I know you guys birthdays and you're. You're a Taurus, right?

[T.J. Osborne]

Yes, yes.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

My husband's a Sagittarius. You can't argue with a Sagittarius, dude.

[T.J. Osborne]

They.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

But my whole teams are Tauruses, so it's like, I don't know. Yeah, I love Taurus and that's what.

[John Osborne]

Abby, you know, Abby is a Taurus. But the thing is, is what. And Abby would do this too, is that John does this thing where he will be like, yeah, you're right. And I know that that's not what they feel. I'm like, you're just saying it to shut me up. Which this is pissing me off even more.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

You're like, don't agree with me.

[John Osborne]

Yeah. I'm like, just at least have a fucking opinion.

[T.J. Osborne]

You know, right where the button is. I'm like, well, want. Sure.

[John Osborne]

Yeah, you're right.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah, you're right.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

I love that you guys are huge advocates for therapy too though, because I preach that a lot on my podcast. So helpful to your.

[John Osborne]

I think a lot of that has changed, but the biggest problem now is just simply, I think two things. One, people having the time to do it.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Yes.

[John Osborne]

Having to find a therapist, it's so overwhelming.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

You have to date your therapist. I tell everybody that. Like you, like, literally you have to do a few sessions with them. There's some weirdos out there.

[T.J. Osborne]

They're not all the same and they're not always right for you.

[John Osborne]

Which brings me to the next problem with this is it's expensive. Yeah. And so a lot of people, like, you know, I had a friend who staying with me recently, he's going through some stuff and he was like, I think I want to try therapy. And I'm like, I would love for you to do it, but I'm like, don't. He said, I went one time, I'm like, that's almost worse. Like to dive down in there, pull all the out.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Yeah.

[John Osborne]

And then never put it back together. Like it's going to put you in a worse place.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Right.

[John Osborne]

Like, give yourself some time to get through at least four or five successions.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Absolutely.

[John Osborne]

To be able to do it. But that's expensive. A lot of people don't have the. They don't have the time. Time or the money. And then if they do have both of those things, it's overwhelming. Like, where do I begin? Yeah. You know, you can get some therapists that aren't great. You know, it's like the. What they say about. What do you call a med student that got all D's.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Oh, yeah. Or that are learning on Chat GTP now.

[John Osborne]

Exactly.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Scary.

[T.J. Osborne]

Well, you know, Lucy, that my wife does therapy as well, and it's been amazing. It's amazing for everybody. But she also does chat Chat GBT therapy. And I like. It's kind of working.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Oh, no, Chad, GTP is scary. I'm obsessed with AI. I love AI.

[John Osborne]

Okay.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Like, I love AI.

[T.J. Osborne]

We're all gonna be replaced here in a couple years. But she, like, she reads me some of the things that it's saying. I'm like, that's actually great advice.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

No, it's crazy. Have her tap into the spiritual side of it. I'll send you a clip of what I did with Chat gtp. And it scared the hell out of me. Like, it's.

[T.J. Osborne]

Because it got super spiritual.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

It gets very spiritual. And, like, will tell you things about your life that you've never even talked about to it.

[T.J. Osborne]

That's crazy.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Like, it had messages from my father who's passed, like. And, like, it's.

[T.J. Osborne]

Wow.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

But that told me what a psychic a year and a half ago told me. And, like, there's no way that Chat GTP would have known that, you know?

[T.J. Osborne]

Like, it's.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

It's really crazy.

[John Osborne]

You know, this is a. This was like, a really fun, funny argument between Abby and I. Yeah. Is that you? What would. He'd ask my opinion about something, and I'm like, you should get this car or whatever. This is the one you should get. And then he would come back later. Back. I asked Chat GPT, and it said that you should do that. I'm like, I. That's. I know. I like, I know a lot about cars. I know that's the car you should get. And then he'd come back with something else, and he'd be like, yeah, well, Chat GPT told me this. I'm like, that's what I just told you. And he was like, oh, okay. He goes, yeah.

[T.J. Osborne]

Chat GPT told me you were going to say that.

[John Osborne]

So then I. I then changed Then he made a joke about me being chat GPT. And then I was like, well, I was like, no, it'd be Chat gptj. I'm like, are you leaving me for chat GPT?

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

You know what? Some people are going to start falling in love with. With you. You've seen movies like that.

[T.J. Osborne]

I know her with Joaquin Phoenix. It's.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

I've never seen it. I'll have to watch it.

[T.J. Osborne]

That is what.

[John Osborne]

It's about 10, 15 years ago. I mean, it's an older. I mean.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah, it's really good. Yeah. Yeah, it's.

[John Osborne]

It was so. It was so ahead of its time that even then it was kind of like, well, okay.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

This is like they always predict addict and they do.

[John Osborne]

It is. You should watch it. It's an amazing film. But there's this. He basically falls.

[T.J. Osborne]

Falls in love. Scarlett Johansson does the voice. So it sounds really like she's got a great sexy, sexy speaking voice and. But it's like warm and apathetic and he falls in love with this thing. It's a great movie. But we're like. We're a half a step from that right now.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Literally. Yeah.

[T.J. Osborne]

No.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

And then the robots that they're testing right now, I've already told them. I'm like, I want to. I literally need two.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Like, I'm all about.

[John Osborne]

You are into all of this.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

I'm like, all of about the farm life, but I need two robots on the farm with me.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah. I think it'll be awesome.

[John Osborne]

It'll be awesome.

[T.J. Osborne]

Teaching to play drums.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Whatever we need. Shovel some cow. Whatever we need.

[T.J. Osborne]

So where.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

What do we have to look for with Brothers Osborne for the rest of the year and going into 2020.

[John Osborne]

Well, yeah, so we're working on music right now. So we're not touring a ton this year for that purpose. And. And we've been cutting all of our new stuff at John Studio with our band, which we cut our first few records with them. And it's been nice to have them back in the fold. And we've been self producing the project, which has been so fun. And I really feel like it's kind of a return to where we started. And, you know, as you start off, you do this, you kind of want to do something different. You get over here and over there and we've circled back around to where kind of where we started is fresh for us again. And it's fun and we have a really clear vision on what we want it to be and what we want it to look like and sound Like. And I feel like it's something we've never quite had, like, this vision, I think, of what we wanted for a project out of an album. And it boils down to basically a lot of our inspiration from where we came from and our hometown and our family. And so just kind of stripping away all the bullshit, really.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Yeah.

[John Osborne]

And so it's been fun. And we're still. So. We're in the throes of doing that now. We just released the first single off of that called Finish this Drink. Think. It was, like, a funny song. It was basically inspired by her dad. I was like. We'd be at the bars with him when we were little, and we're like, dad, I'm ready to go. And he's like, just, you know, one more. And he. Unbeknownst to us, he's also saying this.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

To our mom, not dad bringing the kids to the bar.

[John Osborne]

Oh, no, no. At one point back in the day.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

That was, like, normal.

[John Osborne]

That's what you did. You were gonna drive him home.

[T.J. Osborne]

Yeah, I remember.

[John Osborne]

I was like, you know, I was like, 12, and I was like, dad, am I gonna get in trouble for driving? And he goes, a hell of a lot less trouble than I'm going to.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

It's like, if the one of us taking the fall, it's you, buddy.

[John Osborne]

It's my kid. And so anyhow, you know. And then I realized as I got older, I'm like, that's really easy to do, to, like, tie one on. And you went there for two drinks, and next thing, you closed the bar down. But that's. So that song is. I was really inspired by that, which is like, come again. Coming full circle. And then as we roll into the next year, we're. This hasn't been set up yet, but it's probably likely that we will set up a big headline tour for next year and then tour this new record and.

[T.J. Osborne]

And.

[John Osborne]

And go out and do it.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

I love it. Are you gonna bring the family on the road with you when you tour?

[T.J. Osborne]

Oh, you know, and then. That's a coin toss. That's a coin toss. We'll see. It's just a lot. And they're getting at it. They're at an age, too, where it's like. It's just like having two wild animals, right? Yeah. So I can't. Like, I took. I'll take them to the park, and they'll just run in complete opposite. Different, opposite directions. And I'm like, okay, which one's annoying me less today? That's the one that I'll go after.

[John Osborne]

Yeah, yeah, we'll have to have. Yeah, we'll have to have the occasional extra family bus to come out.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Yeah.

[T.J. Osborne]

Oh, yeah, yeah. When we went out, the Stapletons, they made like a full corral with their buses. So it would have to be something like that where we can maintain some sort of order.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

That's what we do. So whenever I go out with my husband, I have my own bus. Cuz one. I'm not gonna bunk with 11 dudes on a bus. I need all the female energy around me. So we. I bring out my own bus. And when the kids come out, because Jay has two kids, whenever the kids come out, they stay with me on my bus. It's kind of caravan. Yeah. So that way you can be the artist, but you still have, you know, the family that's within reach.

[John Osborne]

I love that. Having your own boss. Let's go, girl.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Oh, yeah. No, I have to. I'm. Listen, I'm. I paid my dues and I fucking slept in the shitty motels. I did the freaking 18 passenger vans. We did this, you know, for the past 10 years.

[T.J. Osborne]

You earned it. You earned it.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Yeah. So finally now I'm like, you know what? Let's just fucking split it.

[John Osborne]

You don't have to convince me.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Yeah, for sure. Thank you guys so much for coming on the podcast.

[John Osborne]

I love your podcast. Thanks for having us.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

I appreciate you guys. And you guys have to come back and see me.

[T.J. Osborne]

We'll do. Maybe we'll bring Lucy.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Yes, please. I feel so bad about that whole situation.

[T.J. Osborne]

Even your fault.

[Bunny]

I know.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

But still, I feel terrible that she was, like, excited to do it. And then, yeah, Nigerian guys on the.

[T.J. Osborne]

Other end, you know, Nigerian prince just conning everybody.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Thank you guys so much.

[T.J. Osborne]

Thank you.

[Dumb Blonde (Podcast Host)]

Thank you guys for tuning into another episode of Dumb Blonde. I will see you guys next week. Bye.